Skip to main content

Original text


Powered by Google TranslateTranslate
Powered by Google TranslateTranslate
Tips from SCORE: Lifelong customers are key to business success

Published February 26, 2023

Customer acquisition is a very expensive part of the small business equation. It doesn’t make sense to close a sale, service a customer, lose the customer, and then start over again with another prospect.

Carl Sewell, an incredibly successful automobile dealer in Dallas, Texas, learned about hospitality from the Japanese culture, cleanliness from Disney, and politeness from his mother. He penned these “10 Commandments of Customer Service”: Bring ’em back alive. Ask customers what they want and give it to them again and again.

Systems, not smiles. Saying please and thank you doesn’t ensure you’ll do the job right the first time. Only systems guarantee you that.

Under promise, over deliver. Customers expect you to keep your word. So, exceed it.

When the customer asks the question, the answer is always “yes.” Unless of course it results in losing

money. Sometimes “no” is the mandatory answer.

Fire your inspectors and consumer relations department.

Every employee who deals with clients must have the authority to handle complaints.

No complaints? Something’s wrong. Encourage your customers to tell you what you’re doing wrong.

Measure everything. Professional sports teams do it. You should too.

Salaries are unfair. Pay people like partners.

Your mother was right. Show people respect. Be polite. It works.

Apply Japanese practices. Learn how the best do it and make their systems your own. Then improve them.

Consider these tips when creating customers for life: Customer first, you second. Sometimes you just don’t have the right solution at the right price. If that is the case, it is always best to be honest with the customer, instead of proposing something you know will not fully deliver the result the customer is seeking. It’s OK to say, “I cannot help you, but I know of someone who can.” They will remember you were focused on them and not you.

Always be looking for ways to help your customer get to “Yes”. Being focused on them starts the process.

Be a Good Listener. Susan Friedmann says, take the time to identify customer needs by asking questions and concentrating on what the customer is really saying. Listen to their words, tone of voice, body language, and most importantly, how they feel. Beware of making assumptions — thinking you intuitively know what the customer wants. Do you know what three things are most important to your customer? Stephen Covey is often quoted when counseling on listening, “listen with the intent to understand, not just reply”.

Be transparent when describing the features, advantages, and benefits of a product or service. Close isn’t good enough. Customers want a solution that will work for them. Give them the unvarnished truth, and let them decide if the proposed solution will work for them.

Promise only what you can deliver. Saying “no”, especially by sales personnel to a customer is difficult. If you cannot deliver what the customer needs, say so. Telling the customer that a certain solution with specific features and benefits will be delivered by a specific deadline when you know you can’t deliver, is a recipe for disaster.

Keep pricing consistent for all customers. Use a formal price list. It is a small, small world and buyers talk; even competitors talk. This policy also applies to departments within a customer’s company. You will poison the relationship and kill the accounts if the discrepancy is discovered.

Solve problems quickly with no excuses. Problem-solving is a principal responsibility of a small business owner and customer-facing personnel. Sales personnel are probably the only individuals within a company with whom customers come into contact at any time in the buy/sell relationship. Customer service and sales personnel are the faces of the company; it is your responsibility to deliver on the promises you made.

Communicate the bad news along with the good. If you think the customer will be upset when you tell them the bad news, just imagine how much more upset they will be when they find out you knew the bad news three weeks ago and hid it from them. For whatever reason, if you are going to be late in delivering an ordered product or performing a service, tell the customer as soon as you know it. They will forgive you then, but not three weeks from now.

When speaking of the competition, talk in terms of what you offer that they don’t. If you “slam” the competition, customers and prospects will remember your “trash-talking”. The benefits you offer that the competition doesn’t will make your own products and services look better. Negative descriptions of the competition make you look small in the eyes of the buyer.

Get regular feedback from those that you serve. Encourage and welcome suggestions about how you could improve. Listen carefully to what they say and check back frequently and regularly to see how they perceive your service. Provide a method that invites constructive criticism, comments, and suggestions that are convenient and easy to access.

The highest job priority of every employee of every business on Cape Cod and the Islands is to create “promoters” of your business. That comes from delighting customers and creating loyalty “fanatics”.

Contributed by Marc L. Goldberg, Certified Mentor. SCORE Cape Cod & the Islands. www.score.org/capecod, capecodscore@scorevolunteer.org, 508-7744884. Sources: Stephen Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Carl Sewell, Customers for Life, Steve Curtin, Delight Your Customers. Susan Friedmann.

SHARE THIS HEADLINE

Cape Cod Times Logo

key topics

CONNECT
5 Patti Page Way
}
Centerville, MA 02632
508-775-4884

Copyright © 2024 SCORE Association, SCORE.org

Funded, in part, through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.

Chat generously provided by:LiveChat

In partnership with
Jump back to top